Revolution in diaries
Weblogs
reveal personal diaries to public
By Veeva Yang
A weblog is a website containing personal
diaries and reflections.
In addition, weblog owners, or bloggers,
also post articles of interest on their weblogs.
Browsers are free to comment and express
their ideas directly on the weblogs.
The term “weblog” was coined
in 1997 by an American named Jorn Barger.
In its early days, a weblog was simply a computer file that recorded
all information of a server — for example, IP addresses and processes
run by linked computers.
Now, it represents a series of online
articles and reflections. It is also frequently used as an online diary.
Stephen Ho, 23, of Wong Tai Sin, started
blogging when he was 21.
He said, “I used to post short
paragraphs about my university life. I also gave my own opinions on
matters like politics.”
However, he does not consider his weblog
a diary.
He said, “In fact, I do not write
everyday. I write only when I am free and when I feel like sharing my
thoughts.”
Besides being writers in their weblogs,
some bloggers act as web administrators by compiling articles contributed
by different writers.
Cathy Zhao, a Year 2 engineering student
at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, has operated a weblog in this
style for nearly 2 years.
She said, “My high school classmates
send their articles to me and I choose the good ones to post on my weblog.
“The articles cover various aspects
of their lives like studies and daily activities.”
Besides enabling bloggers to express
themselves creatively and compiling articles from various writers, a
weblog provides links to other websites.
Although the term weblog was used only
for a few years, blogs have existed for almost as long as the Internet
has been around.
As soon as the Internet was invented
in the 1980s, Westerners began to work on developing weblogs.
The first group of Chinese users were
those studying abroad.
They emulated their Western friends and wrote their entries in English
because weblog systems could only support English at that time.
Prof. Anthony Fung, assistant professor
in the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University,
said, “In August 2002, the
first blog center in the Mainland, BlogChina.com, appeared.
“It supports simplified Chinese characters.”
After two months, another blog center called elixus.org was set up in
Taiwan. It supports traditional Chinese characters.
As for Hong Kong, radio programs by the Commercial Radio 2 helped to
promote weblogs.
According to Prof. Fung, in early 2002,
there were radio programs that talked about exchanging diaries. Disc
jockeys read a piece of romantic diary every day.
These programs introduced the concept
of open personal diaries to the audience.
He said, “When people listened
to the diaries, they felt like they were watching Japanese TV serials.
“Many people then started to write open diaries to tell others
their own stories.”
Bloggers are not the only ones who derive
satisfaction from having their own weblogs. Visitors to these weblogs
also enjoy their experiences tremendously.
People can share the feelings of the
bloggers by reading their diaries. Also, browsers find it interesting
to visit well-designed weblogs.
Joey Wong, 22, of Tsing Yi, said, “It
is a lot of fun browsing through my friends’ weblogs. They write
many funny stories about their family members.
“I feel like experiencing those
together with my friends.”
Because of the pressure of daily lives,
some people may find it difficult to meet their friends outside.
Ms. Wong said that she does not have
much time to chat with her friends during the day, and weblogs provide
her the opportunity to keep in touch with them.
“This enables me to help my friends
when they have difficulties,” said she.
Although Ms. Wong enjoys reading her
friends’ blogs, she seldom visits strangers’ weblogs.
Said she: “What they write has
nothing to do with me.
“In my view, knowing about a stranger’s
life is meaningless.
“Besides, knowing nothing about
them, I can hardly trust their stories and understand their feelings.”
Traditionally, people were very protective
of their private thoughts and would never have allowed strangers to
read their diaries.
With that privacy, they could then write
freely about their secrets and inner thoughts.
However, according to Mr. Ho and Ms.
Zhao, this privacy is relaxed somewhat in weblogs.
People are willing to expose themselves
to others through their weblogs.
However, in order to preserve a little
privacy, bloggers may not tell the entire story and may not present
the whole image.
Prof. Fung said that telling truth in
weblogs is not very important.
Rather, weblogs serve as an easy and
direct channel for people to express their feelings.
He added, “Weblog diaries have
become a new style of literature.
“Youngsters are far away from classic
literature such as poetry. Online diaries let them give vent to their
strong emotions.”
To set up a blog, one needs to register
on a blog website, such as blogdot.com.
After gaining approval from a blog website,
one can set up a weblog by choosing a favorite layout, background, character
fonts and sizes.
After that, users can write self-descriptions,
post photos and set background
music to decorate their weblogs.
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